Said the Pupil to the Master
by Kuroida
Summary: Revy's one of the best in her line of work but she knows there's one man who'll always be better. No slash.


He should be dead.

That was Revy's first and only thought. After all, it's the usual consensus when a whole fucking building collapses down on you in a fiery explosion. Heck, everyone within a five mile radius was already pretty dead. She herself had felt the blasts half way downtown.

So he should be dead. Everyone should be dead.

But no. If there was one man in this world that couldn't possibly be dead. If there was one man who could actually survive 60,000 tons of steel and concrete and who knows what else raining on top of them.

It was him.

And Revy could only watch in sick fascination as a piece of concrete shifted and moved aside from the top of the wreck that was the Triad's main office building. A dark form appeared, clawing its way out of the rubble like a zombie trying to escape its own grave. Only the thing that came out of that mess of twisted steel and glass was worse than any zombie. It was a terrorist's worst nightmare. The kind of nightmare that leaves your palms sweating and heart quickening as the person, monster, _thing_ moves towards you. Even Revy paused in her scramble up the mountain of rubble to watch and heck, she was supposed to be on his side.

Because what came out of that grave was the Heavenly King himself.

And boy did he look _pissed_.

His glasses were gone, his blazer was a torn mess and dust had turned his hair grey. His face was white as a ghost's and he was absolutely drenched in blood. It leaked from a nasty gash on his forehead, dripping around his eyes and ears in a sticky, crimson mask. Part of his bare arms were burned black where his clothes had disintegrated away. His hands were cut and bleeding as he worked himself free of the rubble until finally, basked in the cold afternoon sun, he was able to stand, all hunched and panting on top of the pile. The chilly fall air made little puffs of breath visible as Chang gasped for breath, struggling to stand amongst the ruins. Blood dripped off his pale white knuckles in what could very well have looked like a madman standing over his latest kill.

Revy supposed he was a zombie after all. A horrifying one just back from the dead after years of waiting. When its body had just been reclaimed by its soul and it didn't understand that it was so broken and mutilated that it couldn't possibly be of any use anymore.

But Chang's eyes sparked life. Revy could practically feel his anger as she approached him. A third of his Triad were probably dead, his building was definitely gone and Chang did not like taking the piss.

"Boss are you-" Revy shouted but she cut herself off when she heard the shots fired. No doubt the terrorists who'd just bombed the headquarters had gotten over their shock of the man surviving and were preparing for plan B.

Revy quickly broke out into a sprint. Half tackling, half dragging the King from his perch and behind some rubble for cover.

As soon as she touched him she could tell the extent of his injuries. Most of his ribs grinded against each other, all broken and cracked where she'd touched them. A shoulder was dislocated and he probably had the mother of all concussions. At least half of his body was painfully burnt and his breathing was coming out in pained gasps as Revy brushed against the gashes that littered his frame.

She adjusted her hold, careful of his ribs and ducked as pieces of the concrete they were hiding behind chipped off from the rain of bullets.

The office had bordered the ocean so really the only direction their attacks could be coming from was back towards the rest of the city. Revy was half tempted to move Chang down the other side of the mountain of rubble, towards the ocean, but the man didn't look like he wanted to leave from their height advantage.

She wasn't exactly prepared for this she realized, glancing over the rock to find their attackers making their way up the mountain after them. Chang was out of commission, it was still several hours until the sun set, help wouldn't be coming for at while as the Triads reared from the force of the attack and they were sitting ducks up here. The terrain was rocky and while it was good for hiding and shielding, it lacked proper foot holds. She needed solid ground for her moves. Not bits and pieces of dirt that threatened to collapse on her at any moment.

She took a mental count of the men approaching them. There were ten, all large and tough looking as they marched in unison up the pile. Snipers were a non issue, they wouldn't be able to get this distance from the few remaining buildings around them. This final execution had to be done on foot.

The terrorists sprayed the area around them with AK rifle bullets. Perhaps they thought they'd get lucky and hit them. Or perhaps they just enjoyed seeing them dive deeper into cover out of fear.

Revy tried to shield Chang from the attacks before a loud pop was heard followed by a grunt. Chang had moved his dislocated shoulder back in place and Revy found a hand grabbing her by the shoulders, leaving a bloody palm print on her shirt.

"Give me your guns."

It came out in a sort of choked rasp. As if there was too much dust and not enough air but it was clear enough.

"What?" Revy asked the man, looking at him as if he were crazy, "Forget it Boss, just wait for backup to-"

"Give. Me. Your. Guns."

That demand was more of a growl as Chang found his voice again, getting louder as the rest of the sentence finished off.

Revy hesitated, staring at the man whose eyes were aflame with anger and determination. The man was a mess though and she had to admit she was a bit emotionally attached to her 92s. She was about to tell him to fuck off. That one poke to the ribs and the man probably wasn't waking up until next week. She wasn't part of his precious Triad nor was he her employer in this situation so he should just shut up and do what she told him.

But this was _Chang_.

"Two Hands," Chang warned, staring Revy down and Revy, ever stubborn, selfish Revy, silently passed her guns to the Boss who grabbed them with shaking hands.

And then he was gone. Leaping over the cement block in a whirl of shredded trench coat and dust.

The shooting started up almost instantly, faster and more focused than before and Revy gaped at the place the other man had been just moments ago. She crawled around the concrete slab, ducking out of the way of stray bullets and completely expecting to find a splatter of the mafia boss on the other side.

When there was, to her relief, none, she turned back to look down the mountain of rubble.

And the sight before her stunned her speechless.

Chang ran in and out of the rubble, a noticeable creature bathed in black among the dazzling evening sun. Yet his timing and accuracy were perfect. He ducked out of cover, shots lined up and fired before the men could even pinpoint his location.

A single shot and a man fell. Two more dual bursts a few seconds later and the two behind dropped like rocks. They probably hadn't even known what hit them.

The men broke formation in confusion and panic. They hadn't expected the supposed cripple of a King to take any of them down, let alone three.

Chang ran behind some rubble as assault rifle bullets peppered him from below. He maintained the high ground as he ran out, shooting a quick double burst before ducking back into another haven.

A cry of death signaled the location of the wounded. A blind, final shot over the stonework and then silence.

Six more to go and twenty two bullets before the next reload.

A piece of cake on a good day.

From her position at the top of the mountain, Revy watched as Chang became a whirlwind of bullets and blood. Of deadly accuracy and amazing speed.

He moved like a serpent despite his injuries, he jumped and leaped, guns blazing in his hands, a grin of maniacal blood thirst and lust on his lips as soldiers cowered and ran. One fell on the uneven rubble in his panic to get away and Chang was on him in an instant, driving his heel into the man's neck and Revy could hear it snap from all the way up here.

The dead man's companion was better though, he had his AK-47 locked and loaded, pointing at Chang before Revy could shout a warning. But Chang saw it, he moved closer to his opponents than Revy would ever dare, knocking the muzzle of the gun away with a wave of his arm so that it fired in a brilliant arc over his shoulder. The victim's surprise turned into sheer terror. Chang gave a wicked grin before delivering a savage knee to the other man's chest, knocking the air from his lungs before a point blank head shot dealt the killing blow.

Six down. Four to go.

He was a beast in human's clothing. A raging, silent monster of skill and grace. To an average onlooker, Chang was the embodiment of power. He was invincible, unstoppable, _superhuman_.

But Revy wasn't an average onlooker, she had trained hard for her skills and they were one of the best in Roanapur. She saw Chang's pained breathing, how his arms didn't rise too high over his head due to his injured shoulder. His kicks weren't nearly as powerful as they could be and his cracked ribs no doubt restricted his more fluid movements and tricks. His accuracy and speed were his saving grace but they wavered constantly. Revy easily saw several shots that she would have easily been able to take. But Chang passed them up in favor of sparing bullets and limiting risks.

She would have been able to move out of the hiding position a few seconds faster. She would have been able to reline her guns during the fight instead of constantly ducking for cover after each shot. She wouldn't have needed to find gaps in the men to take breathers and rethink strategies.

The terrorists were just fools who were too surprised to analyze it properly. Sure they knew their guns and their tactics and Revy supposed on a good day they would be at least half competent. But they didn't have Revy's luxury of being detached and watching from above. They hadn't expected the King to survive. Let alone be able to put up a fight. They had done the one thing Revy would never do:

They had underestimated the Heavenly King. And Chang thrived on it.

But still, the Boss's movements were predictable. His running was sluggish at worse yet dynamic and surprising enough to impress. Revy knew she would have be able to take him down.

Revy clenched her jaw stubbornly as one more man dropped to the ground. Yes, with some luck and a bit of work she would definitely be able to take him down.

But she'd need to drop a whole fucking building on him first if she wanted to even get close.

And so, Revy stared at the man who was no doubt working at a fraction of his usual strength as he killed man after man below her. In the meantime, she tried to stamp down the usual mix of awe and jealousy whenever she got to glimpse Chang work. This man, after being almost crushed to death from a collapsing tower, was still at the same damn level as she was.

And, fuck it all for her to admit it, but he was still amazing. His skill. His form. His power. It was all flawless even if he was breathing a bit too hard and his face was etched with just a bit too much pain. He was sweating and panting by the time the final man was shot down, neck crunched underneath Chang's foot like an insignificant fly. Chang backed up a few steps, giving the man a final tap with Revy's gun just in case.

In what felt like no time at all the fight was over and, with a final sweep of the now empty battlefield, Chang sank to his knees in the soft dirt. His chest was heaving as blood leaked out of his wounds. The sun was starting to set, making his black suited form melt into the shadows. From the final rays of sunlight as it sank under the ocean, blood glistened in the man's hair, soaking into his clothes and pooling around him. Each puff of breath coming from his exhalations in the chilly evening made him seem every more like a demon, as if smoke was rising from his mouth while his body was drenched in the blood of his enemies.

To Revy, he was every bit the monster of any child's greatest nightmare.

But then he clumsily turned his head around, looking up at Revy still perched at the top of the rubble. For a moment, demon and human eyed each other from their respective heights. And then he gave her a grin. Until finally, the adrenaline leaked out and he fell forward, guns slipping out of his hands and clattering to the ground.

No one was there to see the all powerful Heavenly King kiss the ground in a dead faint, kicking up a puff of dust around him. Most people would have laughed as the demon man's body crumpled like a tower of Jenga blocks until it lay in an undignified sprawl, face down in the mud.

But again, Revy wasn't most people.

"Shit," she muttered, skidding back down to the mountain of debris towards the Boss. She flipped the prone body over and was relieved to find a pulse underneath all the blood and dirt.

What was left of the Triads would have regrouped and should be coming at any moment now so Revy stood to survey the area. Ten dead bodies lay scattered around her, their faces frozen in pain and surprise as their brains leaked out onto the concrete.

And then she looked down at Chang who now lay in a rumpled heap by her feet, chest rising and falling sporadically as he gave wheezing breaths.

She supposed it would have been natural to laugh now. Her, the sole survivor of the battlefield. But then she reached and picked up one of her guns from the ground. It still had a few more shots in them. She could easily finish off the last man. No one would know she'd even been there. To them, Chang could had been crushed or shot by the building and the terrorists. A single bullet anywhere would probably kill him at this point, head shot or not.

And then with him gone she really _would_ be the best in Roanapur...

Instead, Revy lit a cigarette and found herself watching the sunset as approaching sirens and shouts were heard in the distance. About time too.

She picked up her other gun, gave them both an experimental twirl in her hands before placing them back into their holsters. She wouldn't do it. She could never do it. Not even when his blood was drying in a pool around her feet.

Because in her mind, the Heavenly King would always be seated on his throne, sunglasses glued to his face and his pair of Beretta's forever twirling in his hands. The dragons would snake down the grips and his suit would be pristine and pressed as she stood watching him from below. And he'd turn his head around in all its glory and for a moment, they'd eye each other from their respective heights.

And then he'd give her a grin.

* * *

_AN: After reading Gramnegative's Valkyrie (go read!) and preparing the tissues I realized I hadn't written any Black Lagoon in a while so...tada! Because I am a Chang fangirl and now Revy sort of is too._

_If you liked, review! :)_


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